But Arsenal's draw means they could surrender top spot and slip to third on Wednesday if title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea win their games.

Gunners boss Wenger did at least stop denying that he is unlikely to make a signing as he confirmed he is hoping to buy before Friday's deadline after Aaron Ramsey suffered an injury setback.

Wenger, whose team bus was delayed by heavy traffic on the way down, said: "Overall I would say it is a difficult point but a fair point in a very good football game, so I wouldnt say like you it was a very bad performance.

"You want the three points in every game but it is a difficult place Southampton. When you look at the overall record it can happen sometimes away from home you take only one point.

"I don't want to look for any excuses. In the first half, we played in second gear and Southampton in fourth. They played at a higher pace than us, decided to stop us from playing and did it very well. It is difficult to maintain but they did it for 90 minutes and they did it very well in the first-half."

Wenger also claimed Flamini was hard done by on his red card for his two footed lunge on Morgan Schneiderlin. Flamini now misses FOUR games because he has already served a ban this season.

"To me it looked harsh. He got the ball," said Wenger. "Look, at some stage we have all the feet off the ground - when you want to run you need to put the feet off the ground.

"Look, if you say that every time a guy makes the two-footed tackle it is a red card [then] he deserved a red card. If you say was it a violent tackle I would say no as he played the ball. I don't know, the referee made the decision, we have to cope with it."

Wenger confirmed Ramsey suffered a setback In training on Monday. While it is believed it could be just a week more on the sidelines, that may be enough to force Arsenal into the market.

They are trying to do a deal for Schalke attacking midfielder Julian Draxler before Friday night's deadline and may also turn to Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata.

Wenger said: "I hope we have something to tell you (on signings by Friday). Aaron had a setback in training yesterday. We couldn't bring him here. It was the same muscle, but faded again. We have to be cautious."